a day ago
Acacia patient record system to go live at Tennant Creek and Alice Springs hospitals despite ongoing safety concerns
The Northern Territory government is switching on a controversial patient record system in two hospitals on Saturday, despite the peak body representing doctors labelling it "unsafe".
The Acacia IT project was established in 2017 to integrate four patient record systems into one, but has been plagued with issues, despite the NT government spending more than $300 million on its bungled rollout.
The system was meant to provide frontline staff with more comprehensive patient information and deliver it faster, but was switched off at the NT's largest emergency department after only two months in early 2024.
The switch-off followed pressure from clinicians at Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH), who declared it a threat to patient safety.
During the two months it was operational at RDH, Acacia was incapable of showing each patient's location within an emergency department, unlike similar software systems across the world.
Hospital staff were therefore unaware where the most at-risk patients were.
Basic clinical information was also hard to access.
Acacia is still suspended at RDH's emergency department, but the NT Department of Corporate and Digital Development (DCDD) has confirmed it will go live in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek hospitals on Saturday.
Acacia has been operational at Gove and Katherine hospitals since 2022.
President of the Australian Medical Association NT John Zorbas said not enough had been done to fix Acacia's issues since it was suspended at RDH's emergency department.
"Until those same doctors who raised the alarm are happy that the system is now safe, we shouldn't be moving forward with it."
Dr Zorbas said launching Acacia in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek hospitals — which are not as large or as busy as RDH — would see issues "slip under the radar".
"[It] may not demonstrate that the problems that were there when it was withdrawn [from RDH] have been correctly fixed," he said.
"It's easy to just get by ... when you're not full, when you've got time [at smaller hospitals].
The Acacia project is meant to incorporate five stages, although the first stage — rollout at the NT's five hospitals — is still not complete, despite the project's $320 million budget being nearly spent.
The remaining four stages include expanding Acacia's functionality, and deploying it to primary care clinics and Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations.
Dr Zorbas said there was "no money" left for Acacia and a return on investment would not be realised if the project was stopped after its first stage.
"It will just be one phase that only covers a very small part of clinical operations," he said.
"The whole point of the program was to extend to five stages."
DCDD has been contacted for comment but did not provide a response before the ABC's deadline.
